Ties
by Spoiled Sweet
Summary: Sakura reminds Sai why he is more loyal to her and Naruto than he ever was to ROOT. Friendship fic. No Pairings.


**Ties**

* * *

"Where… where did you get these?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Sai as she put the kettle on the stove. Her hair was pulled forward over her shoulder and tied with a ribbon, matching the girlishness of the sundress she wore as she bounced around the kitchen, cleaning up after lunch. Kakashi and Naruto had both left not ten minutes before. "Those? I dug them up from the archives."

The ex-ROOT operative stared at the file.

His file.

His file from ROOT.

His birth date, his mission record, his evaluations, and psychological exams; the list went on. Everything that had been barred and hidden from him all these years and Sakura plopped it on the table in front of him like it was an afterthought. There was even a mention of his _mother_. Of course he understood that she had existed at one point in _theory_, but to see it documented and stamped and official was enough to make his heart palpitate.

"You could not have possibly just 'dug them up'," he argued, turning fully in his seat to look at her. "Where did you get them?"

"Sai, that's not important. Look! Your birthday's in a few months and you're turning twenty-one!"

"_Sakura_."

The girl gave him a sheepish smile. "Is it really that important?"

"Yes."

Sakura sighed and tucked some fringe behind her ear. "Well, a few months ago on my birthday, I got thinking about how we didn't ever get to throw you a party or anything because you didn't know what day it was. Then I got thinking about how incomplete your medical history is because I don't know anything about your formative years. So I went to Tsunade-sama about getting a hold of your file from what they confiscated from ROOT and she didn't think I'd get anywhere with it, but arranged a meeting with the elders. Um, she was right." She laughed uneasily and rubbed at her neck. "So, I had to petition for access and I needed prominent people in the village to vouch for me."

Sai stared at her, eager for her to go on. "Who?" he prompted.

"Oh, c'mon Sai, that's not important."

"Tell me who."

Sakura rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. "Well, I started with Kakashi of course, but I knew that wouldn't really mean much since we're dating. Then I went to Ino's, Shikamaru's, and Chouji's dads—actually, I _happened_ on them when they were having lunch together and were half-sloshed, but that was entirely coincidental. Okay, so Chouza-sama wasn't really sloshed, but Shikaku-senpai and Inoichi-oji are total lightweights and I'm getting off track, sorry." She smiled and then took a breath. "Uh, Chouza-sama suggested that I go to the other noble clans if I wanted pull against the Council, so that was Hiashi-sama's and Shibi-sama's signatures and recommendations. Between you and me, they're both sneaky bastards and conned a few trades out of me first, but I guess I should have seen that coming and it's my fault for not, but it was worth it. Then I went to Kiba's mom for good measure, Gai-senpai, and Konohamaru's father."

Sai blinked. "Half of them do not even know me," he murmured.

She shrugged. "No, but they know me… or they did once I convinced Kiba, Shino, and Hinata to introduce me to their parents and accidentally spilled some ink on Konohamaru's dad when I happened to run into him at the Tower."

He stared at her, visibly awed.

Sakura laughed. "Oh, give me a little credit. Tsunade-sama is a master manipulator and I had to pick up some of her tricks over the years."

The kettle whistled and she turned around to attend to it.

Sai watched her for a little while longer and then stood up.

Naruto and Sakura were precious to him in a way that he could not properly put into words. Long ago he had decided that he was more loyal to them than he had ever been to ROOT, because with them he had some semblance of a choice. That and when he shed blood for them they returned the favor in one manner or another. He still remembered the first time she and Naruto had leveled a forest in rage after being led to believe that he had been killed. He wasn't sure what they had planned to follow that display with, but their lead-in had been quite awe-inspiring.

He thought of this when he wrapped his arms around her from behind and squeezed as tightly as he dared. Sakura was petite, but he knew better than to mistake her as fragile.

"Sai?"

He shook. He could feel it, but he didn't know how to explain it. His eyes burned too, but that seemed to make a little more sense for some reason. The fact that she gone through all of that trouble simply to find out his birthday, he had no idea what that meant really but it seemed appropriate for his eyes to burn as a result.

"Oh, _Sai_." She sounded a little exasperated as she turned in his grip, but returned the embrace with equal strength and leaned her cheek against his when his head dropped to rest on her shoulder. "It was _nothing_, honest. It was a lot easier than getting a hold of the Uzumaki clan records recovered from Uzushiogakure."

"You should consider joining ANBU. They may require your finesse for information gathering," he replied, sounding hoarse even to his own ears.

Sakura laughed and one of her hands petted his hair. The motion was practiced and easy and it made him think of all the times he watched her attend to Kakashi and Naruto after a fight and the way she pet their hair after healing them. He had been awoken by the same sensation on a few occasions. It was a force of habit for her, but he appreciated it.

"C'mon," she coaxed after a while, stepping away and shuffling him toward the table and back into his seat. "Let's have some tea and then we'll head to the library. I have a few books to return."

* * *

That November, Team Seven invaded Sai's little apartment without warning or preamble. Before Sai can ask, Sakura gives him a hug and disappears into the kitchenette to prepare food, Naruto drops a bottle of sake onto the small table he sat at for meals followed by a slightly cock-eyed layer cake that had obviously suffered in transportation, and Kakashi claps him on the shoulder before dropping into an opened seat, book in hand. Yamato comes a little later with Ino, the two of them discussing the blooms in the arrangement the Yamanaka girl had made, and Shikamaru and Chouji bring up the rear.

A while later, Sai found his self momentarily unoccupied in a conversation and admiring the gathering and the fact that this was the most noise and activity his apartment had ever seen. He jumped when he felt arms reach around his neck from behind but caught a glimpse of green nail polish and relaxed as Sakura snapped a party hat into place on his head.

He turned to her and smiled. She grinned back and blew a sparkly noise maker at him, so that the ribbon unfurled and tickled his nose. "Happy Birthday, Sai."

Sai glanced around the room again and then nodded in agreement. "Yes."

* * *

1. This is several months in the making because I am lazy and ADD. I think I just really enjoy platonic Sai/Sakura fluff.

2. House Calls will be updated in the near future. This next chapter is just going to be a lot longer than I initially planned, but it will be up soon.

3. And I think maybe if I keep promising an update for Blithe Spirits, I may someday get to it.

**Please review :D**


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